The Morbid Kitchen — Jennie Melville

High-ranking policewoman Charmain Daniels had not been in Windsor at the time but she had heard all the details of the murder at Miss Bailey's Nursey School, a murder which had shocked the local community to the core. Ten years ago, just as the summer term was drawing to an end, one of the pupils, a girl, went missing. Her body was found in the basement room, in one of the cupboards.

After the murder the school was forced to close but Nancy Bailey wouldn't sell the house, which had lain empty for years. The basement room, scene of the gruesome discovery, had been boarded up. Then Nancy Bailey's half-sister Emily inherits murder house and decides to sell. Before she can do so, however, she must open up the basement room.

Understandably, Emily is nervous about the procedure and asks Charmain to be present, lending moral support. At first, the basement room seems unthreatening, undisturbed. A fine layer of dust covers all its surfaces. Then a cupboard door swings open and Charmain, Emily and the builder are greeted by a horrific sight. Inside is the body of a woman, a decapitated head between its legs…

The former school house has become the scene of horror once more, and as the police reopen their investigations Charmain must dig deep into the dark secrets of the local community to unmask a ruthless and perverted killer.